A leader in
legal education
Dean David Yellen recognized for his increasing
influence on American law schools
D
avid Yellen was recently
recognized by the
National
Jurist
as one of the 25 Most
Influential People in Legal Education.
We asked him about his work at Loyola
and the ABA, his predictions for the
future of legal education, and his
experience tandem parasailing with a
United States Supreme Court justice.
Q:
Why did you decide to
become a lawyer?
A:
During college, I became very
interested in juvenile justice. I didn’t
really decide to go to law school until
I was out of college and working as a
VISTA volunteer for two organizations,
one a community group advocating
on behalf of children and the other
the National Center on Youth Law,
which does impact litigation on
behalf of children.
Q:
And how did you make the
transition into academia?
A:
After law school, I clerked for a
federal judge, worked as an associate
for a litigation-focused firm, and was
an attorney working on criminal
justice policy for the US House
Judiciary Committee. I
decided to give teaching a
shot—and wound up loving
it and staying in it.
Q:
Chief Cook County
Criminal Court Judge Paul
Biebel just appointed you a
special master to identify
legitimate claims from
torture victims against
former Chicago police
commander Jon Burge.
What will this work involve?
A:
There are a number of
people still in Illinois prisons
who may have been among
Burge’s torture victims. I will
be recommending to Judge
Biebel which inmates present
credible claims to be entitled
to new trials because they
were tortured into confessing.
Several Loyola law students will
likely assist me in reading files
and examining claims. The police
torture cases are a blight on
Chicago and the criminal justice
system, and I’m going to do the
Q & AWITH THE DEAN
best I can to help contribute to the
end of this terrible chapter.
Q:
You frequently speak and write
on the future of legal education.
What is your prediction for how law
schools will evolve?
A:
Legal education has made pretty
good use of the current crisis, in at
least one sense. We are doing a better
job than ever in using experiential
learning to prepare our students for
practice. That’s a good development
that’s only going to accelerate. The
size of the applicant pool will be
another big issue. Schools have seen
a big drop-off in applications the
last few years based on a tough job
market. A correction was warranted,
but at this point I think it may have
gone further than necessary. I think
we’ll see some modest recovery in
the applicant pool.
Q:
You’re a member of the
ABA Task Force on the Future
of Legal Education. Can you
share top priorities?
A:
Our final report is a call for
increased openness to change in
a variety of sectors. To the ABA,
we urge more flexibility in the
accreditation standards. To state
bar officials, we urge more
openness to ways young lawyers
can be more mobile—for instance,
the uniform bar exam. The task
force is also open to the idea of
increasing access to justice by
issuing limited licenses to do some
things that only lawyers do today.
It’s not unlike what’s happened in
the medical field, with nurse
practitioners and physicians’
assistants doing things like giving
injections and writing common
prescriptions. We think a similar
model could work in the legal field.
Q:
As a member of the ABA Section
of Legal Education’s Standards
Review Committee, you played a
critical role in drafting new rules
requiring law schools to provide
much more transparent information
about employment outcomes.
Thoughts on this experience?
A:
This change is something
legal education should be really
proud of. We now provide more
detailed, accurate, complete
information about employment
outcomes than any other field
in higher education. On the flip
side, a lot of news coverage has
interpreted this as negatively as
possible. Over time, that will
probably be interpreted in a more
balanced way, but meanwhile,
increasing transparency was the
right thing to do.
Q:
What are your proudest
accomplishments as Loyola
law dean?
A:
We’re offering more academic
options for our students; our
professors are more prominent; and,
through the generosity of our alumni
and other donors, we’ve established
a number of endowed professorships
and new scholarship programs.
Although we’re in a rapidly changing
world, at Loyola we’ve managed
to remain true to our ideals, holding
on to our sense of community and
our commitment to law as a tool for
social improvement.
Q:
Your oldest daughter is a 2L
at your and your wife’s alma
mater, Cornell Law School. What
advice did you give her when she
went o to law school?
A:
My wife, Leslie, and I graduated 30
years ago this spring, and it’s amazing
to know our daughter is sitting in
some of the same classrooms we sat
in when we met. The advice I gave her
is the same I give Loyola students: You
have to learn to think like a lawyer,
but it’s at least as important to think
of yourself as a young, budding
professional, and acquire the skills,
attributes, and relationships that will
be incredibly important to your career.
Q:
If you could have dinner
with any lawyer in America, past
or present, who would it be?
A:
It may sound clichéd, but it’s
hard to go wrong with Abraham
Lincoln. I can’t think of anyone more
interesting to talk to.
Q:
Who’s your favorite
Supreme Court justice?
A:
I’ll put it this way: I argued a
federal sentencing case in front
of the Supreme Court in 1997, and
I lost 6-3. So my favorites are the
ones who sided with me: Stephen
Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and
John Paul Stevens.
Q:
And speaking of Supreme
Court justices, about that
tandem parasail . . .
A:
When I was law dean at Hofstra
University, Justice Ginsburg agreed
to teach in our summer program in
Nice, France, in 2001. She’s always
been an adventuresome person,
and she wanted to parasail over the
Mediterranean. I offered to keep her
company since I’d done it once before.
My wife told me, “If there’s an accident
and only one of you can be saved, it
better not be you!”
Q:
What’s the best part of
living in Chicago?
A:
Other than the weather? I love the
way one minute you can feel you’re in
an international city, the next moment
in a small community.
Q:
What would people be
surprised to nd out about you?
A:
I’m kind of a Bruce Springsteen
fanatic. Ever since I first heard his
music and saw him in the late 1970s,
he’s been a great part of my life. I look
forward to every album and see him
on almost every tour.
■
“Although we’re in a rapidly changing
world, at Loyola we’ve managed to remain
true to our ideals,
holding on to our sense of
community and our commitment to law as
a tool for social improvement.”
—Dean David Yellen
SPRING 2014
11
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LOYOLA LAW
